American manufacturing and small business landed front and center on President Barack Obama’s public push for a congressional deal that would prevent higher taxes and budget cuts from automatically kicking in at the end of the year, a scenario known as the “fiscal cliff.”
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Despite some short-term challenges, including the fiscal cliff and the potential end of the Production Tax Credit, an emphasis on green jobs hiring is clearly going to bring long-term benefit for the cleantech industries. But as we have explored in previous stories on Green & Clean, there aren't enough trained skilled workers who can step in to these jobs.
But training programs, looking long term to the future, continue to spring up across the country, aided by federal grants and nonprofits, and one of the most inspiring ones comes from an area that isn't thought of as a cleantech hot spot: the Bronx.
In New York City's northernmost borough, arguably most famous for being the home of the New York Yankees but also for having a rough-and-tumble reputation, an organization called the Consortium for Workers Education (CWE) has been been training adults and recent college graduates for green jobs.
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Global crude steel production increased on both a month-to-month and year-over-year basis in October. However, output from U.S. steel manufacturers has declined slightly, while international markets may face an overcapacity problem in the near future.
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When President Barack Obama passed the American Investment and Recovery Act in 2009, it included a number of provisions for supporting and accelerating the growth of green energy technologies. Much of the cleantech policy incorporated into that bill was first proposed by the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of union groups, small businesses, manufacturers, and social justice groups that work together to find common ground on environmental policies.
On Nov. 13, the BlueGreen Alliance unveiled what it calls the California Green MAP (Manufacturing Action Plan). The document proposes policy changes similar to those included in the Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology (IMPACT) Act of 2009 proposed by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), which were ultimately included in the American Investment and Recovery Act.
The California Green MAP is the fourth such “action plan" created by the group.
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One fairly constant criticism of solar energy not being able to provide significant chunks of power for everyday life is that the amount of space and scale needed for installations that can meet those needs are staggeringly huge. For solar energy to make significant contributions to the electric grid, a whole lot of space must be devoted for power plants and solar farms.
For example, solar installations in the Mojave Desert, which receives about twice the sunlight compared with the rest of the U.S., can spread over five to 10 miles. Often, the high levels of sunlight craved by solar farms are found in the desert, but the drawback of locating huge solar installations in the desert is that not a lot of people live all that close to deserts, meaning additional infrastructure is needed to transport the electricity to population centers far away.
This gave Netherlands-based energy industry consultancy and certification firm DNV KEMA some inspiration.
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Plus: U.S. Cracks Down on Counterfeiters, Being a Business Visionary, Europe’s Downturn Affecting American Manufacturers, Why Holiday Sales Are a Bad Idea and the Coming “Industrial Internet” Worth Trillions.
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It’s no secret that with each rise in government mandated fuel efficiency standards for vehicles, a corresponding rise in blood pressure among opposition groups occurs.
In August, the Obama administration did something that was largely lost in the noise of the presidential race: It issued cleaner auto standards that will raise fuel efficiency to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. That’s roughly twice the average mileage of cars on the road today. The standards are expected to save consumers $1.7 trillion at the pump and cut U.S. oil imports by one-third, in addition to reducing the nation's greenhouse gas emissions.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates auto emissions under the auspices of the Clean Air Act, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has the authority to boost Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger vehicles.
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Every year, some Industry Market Trends coverage rises to the top. Here’s your chance to catch up on and discuss the issues that matter most to our readers, from U.S. manufacturing competitiveness to futuristic technology and bridging the skills gap.
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